New York’s Finest To The Rescue: NYPD Officers Save Baby Who Had Seizure, Stopped Breathing

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Queens mom is thanking her lucky stars and a few NYPD officers for saving her baby after the girl stopped breathing inside a Brooklyn restaurant.

Caroine Ivanof says her 15-month-old daughter Chloe was in good spirits as their family celebrated her mother-in-law’s birthday Saturday night at Kaifuem Restaurant and Lounge in Coney Island. That is, until something happened, seemingly out of nowhere.

“My daughter started having a seizure. She spiked a fever. She stopped breathing. She was turning blue. I ran out to call 911 out of the restaurant,” Ivanov told CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez.

Right outside, stopped at a traffic light on Ocean Parkway and Brighton Beach Avenue, were police Officers Michael Pace and Joseph Doyle. The panicked mother ran to their squad car.

“She started banging on our window, telling us her baby wasn’t breathing. We jumped out of the car,” Officer Doyle said.

“The baby was a blue-ish tint. She wasn’t breathing. There’s a lot of bubbles in her mouth,” said Officer Pace.

Officer Pace radioed for an ambulance: The closest was nearly eight minutes away. Thankfully, police officer Daniel Newman, who is also a certified EMT, was nearby. He heard the call for an unresponsive baby and rushed to the scene. With no time to waste, Newman took baby Chloe into the squad car and started performing CPR as Officer Pace drove to Coney Island Hospital, just a few blocks away.

“As we were driving to Coney Island, I was about to do mouth to mouth, when the baby coughed up in my face and started to cry a little bit,” Newman said. “When I handed the baby off to the nurses the baby was crying, screaming. Color came back to the face and I all I could do is just smile.”

“Honestly, if it wasn’t for them I don’t know if I’d be holding my daughter right now,” Ivanof said.

Doctors told Ivanof her daughter has a virus. She was quickly released and is now recovering at home.